Mil Mi-4. zenrat industries.

[zenrat]

Mil Mi-4.  zenrat industries.

Mil Mi-4 zenrat industries  - 2 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The Mi-4 was designed in response to the American H-19 Chickasaw and the deployment of U.S. helicopters during the Korean War. While the Mi-4 strongly resembles the H-19 Chickasaw in general layout, including the innovative engine position in front of the cockpit, it is a larger helicopter, able to lift more weight and built in larger numbers. The first model entered service in 1953. The helicopter was first displayed to the outside world in 1952 at the Soviet Aviation Day in Tushino Airfield.

Mil Mi-4 zenrat industries  - 5 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The Mi-4 transport helicopter laid the beginning of the Soviet Army Aviation. It was widely used both in the armed forces and in Soviet civil aviation, and for several decades remained the main type of helicopter in the inventory of the Soviet Armed Forces and of the Civil Air Fleet. The Mi-4 went out of service with the development of the Mi-8 and is no longer used by the Russian Air Force, though it remained in service in some countries as a utility helicopter or as a military transport a while longer. Albania was thought to be the final country using the helicopter and by 2005 all were out of service although an official video of a North Korean Air Force combat flying skills competition released in 2014 shows that the Mi-4 is still in limited service in North Korea.

Mil Mi-4 zenrat industries  - 6 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The armed forces of the People's Democratic Republic of Victoria operated a number of Mi-4s before switching to the Mi-8.  One was retained in the collection of the People's Aviation museum at Dadswell Bridge.

Mil Mi-4 zenrat industries  - 14 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The Mi-4 played a very important role in the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971. The Mi-4 was the workhorse of the Indian Air Force covering the medium lift role at the time. A highly successful heli-borne operation, the Meghna Heli Bridge, using Mi-4s helped the Indian Army's 57 Mountain Division clear the Meghna River. The helilift of a battalion of Indian troops to the outskirts of Sylhet was the first heli-borne operation of the Indian army.

Mil Mi-4 zenrat industries  - 16 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Much like the UH-1 Huey, after it was gradually phased out of military service, it was used in various domestic roles: search and rescue, firefighting, polar expeditioning, construction site cargo helicopter, commercial flights and many others.

Mil Mi-4 zenrat industries  - 19 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The Model

Hobby Boss 1/72 Mil Mi-4 built OOB apart from the addition of crew and removing the gondola mounted gun.
Pilot and co-pilot from my box of little people.
Alclad II aluminium over black primer
Home made transfers
It's a great kit.  Excellent level of detail and builds very well and although it does have a number of fragile parts I managed to avoid breaking them all except for one.  I added some nose weight to stop it tail sitting plus a blanking plate to prevent daylight showing through the engine cooling louvres on the sides of the nose.

[PR19_Kit]

Ugly though it is (to my mind...) that makes up into a pretty smart model Fred.

Nice job. 

[NARSES2]

Done a good job there mate 

[Old Wombat]

 

[DogfighterZen]

Nice work on the chopper(and on the Merc), Fred! 
That sure is an ugly thing... always reminds me of these guys...


Ok, i'll get my coat...

[The Rat]

Nice job! I've built the VEB Plasticart one, and the less said about that the better.

That sure is an ugly thing... always reminds me of these guys...

Walk up to him and tell him he's ugly. Go on, dare ya! 

[DogfighterZen]

Nice job! I've built the VEB Plasticart one, and the less said about that the better.

That sure is an ugly thing... always reminds me of these guys...

Walk up to him and tell him he's ugly. Go on, dare ya! 

Ahahah i would if we had them here in Portugal... and i bet i could outrun him...

[McColm]

Well done 

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.

[sandiego89]

Very nice, Soviet helos are definitely under-whiffed.

[scooter]

State Security heading out for a jaunt on a contracted flight?

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Very smart!

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.

Hobby Boss did a good job with this one.  I also have their Mi-2 and Mi-8 which look equally as good in their boxes.

[ChernayaAkula]

Looks fantastic in Zenrat Industries livery. 

[zenrat]

Thanks Moritz.